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Background: Exacerbated chronic periodontitis is part of the spectrum of periodontal diseases that has been described in association with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Few studies have been carried out in developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Objective: This study was aimed to evaluate the periodontal status of HIV seropositive patients and to find out if any correlation exists between the severity of periodontal disease and the CD4 cell count in HIV patients. Methods: This was a comparative study of the periodontal status of 64 HIV-positive subjects. They were grouped according to their CD4 T cell count as Group A- Subjects with CD4 cell count between 200-500µL and Group B- Subjects with CD4 cell count < 200 µL. Patients oral hygiene status were recorded using oral hygiene simplified index. Severity of periodontal disease in both the groups of HIV seropositive patients were clinically determined using probing pocket depth (PPD). Results: It was found that most of the patients in each group were having score "3" as their highest score. A statistically significant association was found between immune status as depicted by CD4 cell count and periodontal status as shown by highest PPD and CAL scores in the present study. Conclusions: The present study confirms the effect of immunosuppression on periodontal diseases in HIV infected patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]